(462) Baxendale of Greenham Lodge and Framfield Place

Baxendale

The father and grandfather of Josiah Baxendale (1761-1835), with whom the genealogy below begins, were middle-class professionals in Liverpool. Josiah himself was a surgeon in Lancaster, where his children were born and raised, although he later moved to London - perhaps at the point when he retired. He had four children who survived to maturity: two sons and two daughters. His elder son, Joseph Baxendale (1785-1872), left home at the age of 21 and went to London to make this way in the world. After three years learning the calico printing trade - apparently not as a formal apprentice - he borrowed money from relatives and bought a partnership in a calico printing business in Lancashire. He was evidently a hard-nosed businessman of tireless energy and formidable entrepreneurial talents, for within six years he had survived being shot at during a labour dispute, paid off his loans, and made sufficient money to withdraw his capital from the business and invest in a partnership in a long-established but incompetently managed and rapidly failing carrying company. The firm in question, Pickfords, claimed to have been established as a carrier about 1630, is recorded from 1756, and is still in the same business today (albeit after 20th century vicissitudes, including a period of nationalisation). Joseph Baxendale turned the firm around, and made it a highly profitable business. New challenges came with the arrival of the railways, but Joseph sought to find ways in which Pickfords' business could complement rather than compete with the new mode of transport. He also bought shares in, and became a director of, railway companies - partly to give him influence with their managements, but no doubt also to hedge his bets, in case Pickfords did not thrive. His interest quickly extended from British railways to continental and even Indian ones, and he bought Folkestone harbour in Kent and developed it as a major freight port. 

During a period of ill health in the 1840s, Joseph had handed over the management of Pickfords to his three elder sons, Joseph Hornby Baxendale (1817-86), Lloyd Baxendale (1822-82), and Richard Birley Baxendale (1823-78). Richard seems to have been more or less a sleeping partner, and it was Joseph and Lloyd who ran the firm in the third quarter of the 19th century. Their father seems to have been unimpressed by the time, care and attention they gave to the business, which fell well short of the impossibly high standard he had set, and over time this had its impact on the success of the firm. Profits varied considerably from year to year, though Joseph still died an extremely rich man: his personal estate was estimated at nearly £700,000, exclusive of three estates in Hertfordshire, Essex and Devon. His sons' shares of this wealth, and the money they made for themselves in the years of Pickfords greatest prosperity, allowed them to move into the landed gentry. Joseph had been content with a substantial villa at Whetstone, but this did not meet the aspirations of his sons or grandsons, who gave it to a charity for use as a care home after his death.

Worplesdon Court (Surrey), now an hotel. Image: Paul Smith. Some rights reserved.

Joseph Hornby Baxendale bought Worplesdon Lodge (later renamed as Worplesdon Court) in 1868 and moved there the following year. It was already a substantial house of about 1845 built for Sir William Bovill, but he enlarged it. Lloyd Baxendale lived at Totteridge House (Herts) until he bought the 1,392 acre Greenham Lodge (Berks) in 1873, a house which was rebuilt for him by Norman Shaw in 1879-83. Richard Birley Baxendale bought a farming estate near Kimpton (Herts) in 1865, and built an intensely Victorian new house there, which he called Blackmore End, by 1869. After his death this passed to his widow, and then to his daughter, Gertrude Mary Baxendale (1863-1922), who lent it for hospital use during the First World War. After her death, it was sold in 1926, and demolished soon afterwards. Joseph's youngest son, Salisbury Baxendale, bought the 1,014-acre Hunsdonbury estate in Hertfordshire in 1876 and took over his father's Henham property, but had to sell both in the 1890s due to the Agricultural Depression and his only son's extravagance.

In the third generation of the family to be involved with Pickfords, Joseph William Baxendale (1848-1915) was a director of the firm until 1909, but also played a leading role in the Phoenix Fire Assurance Co., of which he was also a director. He sold Worplesdon Place after his parents' deaths and bought Hursley Park (Hants) to replace it. He lived at Hursley until 1902, when he sold it and bought Preshaw House (Hants) instead. His widow stayed at Preshaw until 1920, when this house too was sold.

Lloyd Baxendale died in 1882, before his new house at Greenham Lodge had been completely finished. He left two sons, the elder of whom, Lloyd Harry Baxendale (1858-1937), inherited Greenham Lodge. He became the leading figure in Pickfords in his generation, and oversaw its merger with Carter Paterson & Co. in 1912, thereafter becoming chairman of the new firm. He developed the Newbury racecourse on part of the estate, and became its Chairman until his death; he was also the chairman of the Bath racecourse. When he died he left most of his fortune of more than £300,000 to an adopted daughter, later the Countess of Buchan, but after death duties and the payment of an annuity charged on the property she found she could not afford to maintain Greenham Lodge, and since she had another property elsewhere she put Greenham Lodge up for auction in 1938.

Lloyd Baxendale's second son, Francis Hugh Baxendale (1862-1918), was also a director of the family firm. He made his home at Framfield Place (Sussex), which he leased from 1887 and bought in 1890, employing Norman Shaw and Edwin Lutyens to remodel the house in 1890-92. When he died in 1918, Framfield passed to his eldest son, Guy Vernon Baxendale (1884-1969). In 1938 Guy bought Greenham Lodge at auction, and having done so, put Framfield on the market, intending to move to Greenham. But events conspired against him, and with the approach of the Second World War there were no takers for Framfield, while Greenham Lodge was requisitioned by the Government. As a result, he stayed at Framfield until his death, and it was left to his son, Maj. William Lloyd Baxendale (1919-82), to sell the house in 1977 for conversion into flats. Greenham Lodge was sold after the Second World War and passed into institutional use.

Woodside House, Whetstone, Middlesex

A modest villa, with a core of two storeys and three bays and a recessed two-storey wing, which stood very close to the crossroads that marks the centre of Whetstone. It is said to have been built in the 18th century for the Rev. Richard Neale (d. 1817), perpetual curate of Finchley and Friern Barnet. It was described in 1850 as a beautiful villa with a pretty conservatory, in a setting of lawns, groves, and a lake. 

Woodside House, Whetstone: entrance front. Image: Historic England.

Woodside House, Whetstone: garden front. Image: Historic England.

It seems likely that the ground floor extension and the distinctively Italianate decoration on the entrance front were added later, but they were evidently in place by 1866. In 1888 Joseph's sons made the house over to the 'Home for the Aged and Incurable' in central London, a purpose which it continued to serve until the 1960s. It was then demolished and replaced by a remarkably ugly block of flats, although the Baxendale charity continues to operate a care home built to the rear of the site of the original house.

Descent: built for Rev. Richard Neale (d. 1817); sold 1824 to Joseph Baxendale (1785-1872); to grandsons, who gave it in 1892 to the Home for the Aged and Incurable, who had been occupying the house on a trial basis since 1888.

Blackmore End, Kimpton, Hertfordshire

A new mansion, built on the site of an earlier farmhouse for Richard Birley Baxendale (1823-78), who bought the estate in 1865, and had completed the house by 1869. The architect is currently unknown, but it could perhaps be Edward Browning (1816-82) of Stamford (Lincs), who restored Wheathampstead church in 1864, and made alterations in a similarly eclectic style to Barrington Hall, Hatfield Broad Oak (Essex) from 1863.

Blackmore End, Kimpton: the garden front during First World War use as a hospital, from an old postcard.

Blackmore End, Kimpton: end elevation, during First World War use as a hospital, from an old postcard.

At one end of the house there was a symmetrical elevation with a pair of canted bay windows set under the steep slate roofs, but the design of the main garden front mixed Italianate and the baronial motifs to a wilful and indeed chaotic effect, with square stone windows and irregularly spaced features breaking up the façade, all surmounted by a tall crenellated tower with an ornate railing at the top and two mismatched chimneys. Inside, a vestibule 23ft x 13ft led into a lofty staircase hall 40ft x 36ft. From this there opened seven reception rooms, with a conservatory beyond the 26ft x 22ft dining room. Upstairs, there were 17 bedrooms, as well as servants' rooms in the attic. 

The house was occupied by Baxendale's widow until her death in 1909, and then passed to the couple's only daughter, who was married and divided her time between homes in Ireland and Sussex. During the First World War she lent it for use as an emergency hospital, and after her death in 1922 it was sold so that the value of the estate could be divided between her children. A second auction in October 1926 was a demolition sale, and the house was dismantled soon afterwards.

Descent: built for Richard Birley Baxendale (1823-78); to widow, Gertrude Baxendale (1840-1909); to daughter, Gertrude Mary (1863-1922), wife of Col. Arthur Hare Vincent (c.1841-1916); sold after her death and demolished c.1926.

Greenham Lodge, Berkshire

The estate belonged in the Middle Ages to the Knights Hospitallers, and was seized by the Crown at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1553 it was granted to John Lucas (d. 1556), but a few years later Queen Mary restored it to the Hospitallers. After succeeding her half-sister in 1558, Queen Elizabeth I again dissolved the Hospitallers and sold the manor of Greenham. It changed hands several times before being bought in 1586 by Sir Thomas Lucas, kt., the son of the original grantee of 1553: it seems probable that he and his mother had remained in occupation continuously. It was probably Sir Thomas' son, Thomas Lucas (d. 1625) or the latter's widow (fl. 1650) who built the modest gabled house that was recorded here in the early 18th century, as a charming vignette on an estate map. 

Greenham Lodge: the 17th century house of the Lucas family, recorded on an estate map of c.1725. Image: Berkshire Record Office.

The occasion for making the map was probably the sale of the estate by the Duke of Kent (whose mother was the last of the Lucases) to Brigadier-General Waring in 1725. Throughout the 18th century it was part of the larger Thatcham estate and probably escaped alteration, but in 1798 it was bought by James Croft, who apparently rebuilt it in the early 19th century as a plain, square five-bay two-storey house with a hipped roof.

Greenham Lodge: the early 19th century house built for James Croft. Image: Francis Baxendale.

The estate was sold in 1873 to Lloyd Baxendale who employed Norman Shaw to rebuild it in 1879-83; it is one of Shaw's largest houses. Part of the old house is said to have been incorporated in the service wing. The new house is of red brick, with an H-shaped main block and a large service wing to the north, and is Elizabethan in style (the nearby Shaw House is said to have been an inspiration for the design). The symmetrical north-west facing entrance front is plain and well-proportioned, with a porch in the centre, very large windows in the wings, and straight gables above. The porch doorway is a typically Mannerist Shaw piece, with a steep-sided pediment on Ionic columns and a four-centered arch. The garden side, which overlooks a lake, is homelier and less symmetrical, with half-timbering on the first floor between the wings. 

Greenham Lodge: an early photograph of the entrance front.

Greenham Lodge: the garden front of the house today

On plan, the house is a double pile, with the hall and staircase on the entrance side and the main reception rooms on the garden front. The hall is reached through a triple-arched wooden screen of Doric columns, and retains its Victorian decoration fairly intact. It has an enormous chimneypiece with an overmantel faced with gilt leather panels standing on two marble columns and reaching right up to the beamed ceiling. There is another massive chimneypiece in the former Library, with inglenook and a panelled overmantel on stone brackets. Several of the other main rooms preserve key elements of their Victorian decor, including the wide wooden staircase, which rises behind the hall screen to a barrel-roofed gallery. 

Greenham Lodge: the hall in the early 20th century. Image: West Berkshire Museum.

Greenham Lodge: the gallery above the hall today.

The house descended to Lloyd Harry Baxendale (1858-1937), who left the bulk of his property and estate of over £300,000 to his adopted daughter, Christina (1906-94). She and her husband had several other properties and Greenham Lodge was put up for auction in 1938. The manorial rights (and Greenham Common) were bought by Newbury corporation, but the house itself was sold to Lloyd Harry Baxendale's nephew, Guy Vernon Baxendale (1884-1969), who intended to relocate to Greenham from the house he had inherited in Sussex. The Sussex estate was advertised for sale in 1939, but amid pre-war anxiety it failed to sell. When war broke out, Greenham Lodge was unoccupied and was quickly requisitioned by the Government and used by the RAF in conjunction with the airfield laid out on Greenham Common. After the war the house was rented or sold to a Jewish public school, Carmel College, and in 1954 it became the officers' mess for the US Air Force base at Greenham Common. After the base closed in 1992, it again became a school, this time the Mary Hare School for Deaf Children, which renamed the house Mill Hall after their former location in Sussex. In recent years the house has also accommodated several businesses that support the charity, and has operated as a wedding venue at weekends and in school holidays.

Descent: sold 1586 to Sir Thomas Lucas, whose parents had apparently been in possession since 1553; to son, Thomas Lucas (d. 1625); to widow (fl. 1650); to son, John Lucas (d. 1671), 1st Baron Lucas of Shenfield; to daughter Mary (d. 1702), 1st Baroness Lucas of Crudwell, later wife of Anthony Grey, Earl of Kent; to son, Henry Grey (d. 1740), 1st Duke of Kent, who sold c.1725 to Brig-Gen. Waring (d. 1737); to son, William Ball Waring (d. 1746); to sister, Frances (d. 1767), wife of Sir Archer Croft (d. 1753), bt.; to son, John Croft (d. 1797); sold 1798 to his brother-in-law, James Woodcroft (later Croft) (d. 1829); to son, Archer James Croft (1790-1865); who leased it to Maj-Gen. Guy Carleton Coffin (d. 1856) and J.T. Carbonel; to son, Archer Bernard Croft (1838-91), who sold 1873 to Lloyd Baxendale (1822-82); to son, Lloyd Henry Baxendale (1858-1937); sold 1938 to Guy Vernon Baxendale (1884-1969), who sold after the Second World War.

Framfield Place, Sussex

Framfield Place: engraving of the house in 1832, showing it before the additions of 1847.

The house is fundamentally 18th century, and is said to have been first built in 1765. Its appearance in an engraving of 1832 is consistent with that, although it was by then already a substantial and rambling stuccoed house, probably of several different dates, something confirmed by a sale notice of 1811 in the Sussex Weekly Advertiser which says "part of [the house] has been lately re-built, and the whole is put into complete repair". The entrance front (on the right in the engraving) faced south-east and had a porch, while the garden front facing south-west over the lake, had a two-storey canted bay at its right-hand end. The exterior was largely remodelled in 1847 for Alexander Donovan junior, who added a second canted bay at the other end of the garden front and then repeated this formula on the north-east facing elevation. There is a Greek Doric porch on the north-east side and a Greek Doric loggia on the garden front. 

Framfield Place: the house today, with the additions of 1847 and 1890-92. It was divided into flats in 1977.

In 1885 the house contained an entrance hall, five reception rooms, 18 bedrooms as well as offices and service accommodation, but in 1890-92, Francis Baxendale, who had recently acquired the property, asked Norman Shaw (who had rebuilt Greenham Lodge for his father) to make further additions and alterations. He added the south-west (nursery) wing and a single-storey billiard room projecting from the south-east front, which has broad curved bows to both the south-west and north-east fronts. Inside, the billiard room has delicate Adam-style plasterwork. Shaw also remodelled the hall and formed a new drawing room by removing the partition between the former morning room and library, but because he was so busy elsewhere, he suggested that the commission to redecorate the new space was given to Edwin Lutyens, then at the start of his career, who created a panelled interior with a ceiling of beams set in a chequerboard fashion, in a parody of Shaw's Old English manner of the 1870s.

In the 20th century an additional storey was built above the billiard room. A Second World War bomb caused geological changes which meant the lake would no longer hold water, and it silted up in the following years. The house was sold and divided into six dwellings in 1977, and an extra floor was added above the billiard room at the same time. The lake in the grounds was subsequently re-created.

Descent: the creditors of Rev. Richard Rideout sold 1817 to Alexander Donovan (c.1776-1846); to son, Alexander Donovan jr. (d. 1886); to widow, who let the house in 1887 and then sold it in 1890 to Francis Hugh Baxendale (1862-1918); to son, Guy Vernon Baxendale (1884-1969); to son, Maj. William Lloyd Baxendale (1919-82), who sold it for division into six dwellings in 1977.

Baxendale family of Greenham Lodge and Framfield Place

Baxendale, Josiah (1761-1835). Elder son of Joseph Baxendale (1734-83) of Liverpool and his wife Mary Beadle (d. 1808), born 13 August and baptised at St George, Liverpool, 9 September 1761. He was admitted a freeman of Liverpool in 1783. Surgeon, practising at Lancaster. He married 1st, 13 December 1784 at St Mary, Lancaster, Mabella (1756-1829), daughter of Thomas* Salisbury of Settle (Yorks) and later of Lancaster, and 2nd, 1 September 1829 at Kelvedon (Essex), Sophia West (1783-1857), and had issue:

(1.1) Joseph Baxendale (1785-1872) (q.v.);

(1.2) Lloyd Salisbury Baxendale (1788-1858), born 28 July and baptised at St Mary, Lancaster, 27 August 1788; solicitor; lived at Hampstead (Middx), and later in Cambridge and London; DL for Cambridgeshire from 1852; married, 18 November 1825 at St George, Bloomsbury (Middx), Ellen (c.1792-1869), daughter and co-heir of Richard Salisbury of Herne Hill (Kent) and Weymouth (Dorset) and formerly of Cooper Hill, Walton-le-Dale (Lancs), and had issue two sons; died in Kensington (Middx), 26 November 1858; administration of goods granted 31 December 1858 (effects under £6,000);

(1.3) Mary Baxendale (1790-1856), born 23 March and baptised at St Mary, Lancaster, 20 July 1790; married, 28 January 1817 at St Mary, Lancaster, Samuel Hinde (1778-1840) of Dolphinholme, Garstang (Lancs) and later of South Place, Lancaster, and had issue eight children; died 15 December and was buried at Lancaster, 18 December 1856;

(1.4) Mabella Baxendale (1791-1865), baptised at St Mary, Lancaster, 11 October 1791; married, 6 October 1814 at St Mary, Lancaster, Edmund Elsden (1789-1832) of Kings Lynn (Norfk), son of Edmund Ralph Elsden, but had no issue; died 23 April and was buried at Heacham (Norfk), 28 April 1865; will proved 9 June 1865 (effects under £12,000);

(1.5) Thomas Baxendale (b. & d. 1793), baptised at St Mary, Lancaster, 15 September 1793; died in infancy and was buried at St Mary, Lancaster, 17 September 1793.

He lived at Castle Hill, Lancaster, and later at Queen Sq., Bloomsbury (Middx).

He died 21 January, was buried at St John's chapel, Whetstone (Middx), 29 January 1835; his will was proved in the PCC, 18 February 1835. His first wife was buried at St George, Bloomsbury (Middx), 12 February 1829. His widow was buried at Kelvedon, 20 November 1857; her will was proved in the PCC, 17 December 1857.

* The parish register gives his name incorrectly as Edward. 

Joseph Baxendale (1785-1872)
Image: National Portrait Gallery 

Baxendale, Joseph (1785-1872). Elder son of Josiah Baxendale (1761-1835) and his first wife, Mabella, daughter of Edward Salisbury of Settle (Yorks), born 28 September and baptised at St Mary, Lancaster (Lancs), 28 October 1785. He left home and moved to London in 1806 'to fight his way in the world' and learned the trade of a calico printer; in 1809 he borrowed money from relatives and bought a partnership in an established calico printing business in Lancashire. While in this role he survived being shot at during a violent labour dispute. He retired in 1815 and borrowed £8,000 from the trustees of his wife's marriage settlement in a partnership in the carriers, Pickford & Co, a firm which was then close to bankruptcy. He applied his business acumen to rescuing the firm from financial difficulties and oversaw its development into a leading haulage firm, with profits rising to a peak of £48,000 a year in 1837-38. After a period of ill health, brought on partly by the strain of several legal disputes, he handed over control of the business to his three eldest sons, although only the elder two became active directors, and he frequently became frustrated by their lack of attention to the business. With the coming of the railways he became a director of several English railway companies, and sought to find a basis on which Pickford's carrying business could work with the railways rather than be superseded by them; he was Chairman of the South Eastern Railway, 1841-45, and his railway investments later extended overseas to France, Belgium and even India, and he acquired Folkestone harbour and developed it as a major port. He was a JP and DL for Hertfordshire and Middlesex and JP for the Liberty of St. Albans (Herts). He married, 29 February 1816 at Blackburn (Lancs), Mary (1789-1862), daughter of Richard Birley of Blackburn (Lancs), and had issue:

(1) Joseph Hornby Baxendale (1817-86) (q.v.);

(2) Alice Baxendale (1819-51), born 4 January and baptised at Eccles (Lancs), 2 February 1819; married, 11 July 1849 at Whetstone, as his second wife, Dr. Charles William Holland MD FRS (1801-76) of Rodbaston Hall (Staffs), son of Joseph Holland, but had no issue; died 27 June 1851;

(3) Mabella Baxendale (1820-56), born 4 July 1820 and baptised at Eccles, 29 May 1821; married, 7 July 1842 at Whetstone (Middx), her cousin, Hugh Birley* DL JP (1817-83) of Moorland, Didsbury (Lancs), East India merchant, cotton spinner, and later Conservative MP for Manchester, 1868-83, son of Joseph Birley, and had issue three sons and two daughters; died 16 February 1856;

(4) Lloyd Baxendale (1822-82) (q.v.);

(5) Richard Birley Baxendale (1823-78) (q.v.);

(6) Jane Birley Baxendale (1825-1908), born 31 August and baptised at Hendon (Middx), 12 September 1825; married, 18 October 1870 at Whetstone, Robert Jackson Butler (1820-73), son of William Henry Butler, but had no issue; the marriage was long opposed by her father as Butler was a Roman Catholic, and according to her brother Joseph the marriage was 'an unhappy story best left untold'; she died 30 December 1908; will proved 14 January 1909 (estate £45,331);

(7) Salisbury Baxendale (1827-1907), of Bonningtons on the Hunsdonbury estate, Ware (Herts) and of Henham Lodge, Bishops Stortford (Herts), both of which he was obliged to sell; he then settled at Holly Bush, Longcross (Surrey), born 16 March 1827; educated at Harrow, Balliol College, Oxford (matriculated 1846; BA 1849; MA 1853) and Inner Temple (called 1852); barrister-at-law; JP for Hertfordshire; High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, 1883; a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London; married, 3 January 1856 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Edith Marian (c.1834-1920), third daughter of Lt-Gen. Sir Harry David Jones GCB, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 18 January 1907 and was buried at Whestone; will proved 9 March 1907 (estate £41,103).

He lived in London, 1806-09, and later at Weast House, Eccles (Lancs), Woodside House, Whetstone (Middx) and 16 Park Village West, Regent's Park, London. By the time of his death he also owned 1,660 acres at Henham (Essex) and 780 acres at Little Dartmouth (Devon).

He died 24 March 1872 and was buried at Whetstone; his will was proved 16 May 1872 (effects under £700,000). His wife died 23 March 1862 and was buried at Whetstone; administration of her goods was granted 12 August 1862 (effects under £1,500).

* Not, as some accounts state, Hugh Hornby Birley (1778-1845), captain of the Manchester & Salford Yeomanry at the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, who was his uncle.

Baxendale, Joseph Hornby (1817-86). Eldest son of Joseph Baxendale (1785-1872) and his wife Mary, daughter of Richard Birley of Blackburn (Lancs), born 1 December 1817 and baptised at Eccles (Lancs), 5 February 1818. Educated at Harrow. JP and DL for Surrey. A director of Pickford & Co. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club. He married, 9 July 1846 at St George-the-Martyr, Bloomsbury (Middx), Elizabeth Mary (1828-87), only surviving child and heiress of William Brockedon FRS of Holborn (Middx), cartographer, artist and inventor, and had issue:

(1) Joseph William Baxendale (1848-1915) (q.v.);

(2) Phillis Mary Baxendale (1854-1930), born 17 July 1854; married, 28 December 1876 at Worplesdon (Surrey), as his second wife, Col. Lionel Tillotson (1845-1921) of Brooksbank, Copythorne, Cadnam (Hants) and had issue one daughter; died 23 May and was buried at Worplesdon, 27 May 1930; will proved 7 August 1930 (estate £1,840).

He lived at Scotsbridge, Rickmansworth (Herts) and from 1869 at Worplesdon Place, which he enlarged. His town house was 78 Brook St., London.

He died 24 November 1886 and was buried at Worplesdon; his will was proved 30 April 1887 (estate £348,801). His widow died in Paris (France), 15 April 1887; her will was proved 23 June 1887 (estate £27,201).

Baxendale, Joseph William (1848-1915). Only son of Joseph Hornby Baxendale (1817-86) and his wife Elizabeth Mary, only surviving child and heiress of William Brockedon FRS of Holborn (Middx), cartographer, artist and inventor, born 6 October 1848. Educated at Harrow and Pembroke College, Oxford (matriculated 1867; BA 1871; MA 1873). A director of Pickford & Co (to 1909) and of the Phoenix Fire Assurance Society Ltd from c.1882. An officer in the 1st Middlesex Artillery Volunteers (2nd Lt., 1867; Lt., 1871; resigned 1874). JP and DL for Hampshire; High Sheriff of Hampshire, 1893. Master of the Hursley Hounds, 1893-1902. He married, 23 June 1874 at Send (Surrey),  Frances Margaret Julia (1851-1925), only surviving child and heiress of Hon. Francis Scott MP, of Sendhurst Grange (Surrey), and had issue:

(1) Laura Mary Baxendale (1875-1942), born 19 February 1875; married, 29 October 1898 at St Peter, Eaton Square, Westminster, Leonard Rodwell Wilkinson (1869-1913), barrister-at-law, director of gas companies, footballer and athlete (who committed suicide), eldest son of Col. J. Wilkinson of Southampton Lodge, Highgate (Middx), and had issue two sons; lived latterly at Warren Farm, Knockdown, Tetbury (Glos); died 25 February 1942; will proved 21 May 1942 (estate £8,933);

(2) Col. Joseph Francis Noel Baxendale (1877-1957), born 25 December 1877; educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford; an officer in the Hampshire Regiment (2nd Lt., 1900; Lt., 1900; Capt., 1902) and Hampshire Carabiniers (2nd Lt., 1905, Lt., 1908; Capt., 1911; Maj., 1913; Lt-Col., 1917) who served in First World War and was appointed CB; from 1909 farmed and bred cattle at the 600 acre Venthams Farm, Froxfield Green (Hants), of which he purchased the freehold in 1944; JP and DL for Hampshire; in the 1920s and 1930s he was a keen amateur yachtsman and a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron; married, 26 June 1906, Margaret Mary Helena (1882-1966), daughter of Rev. Gilbert Vivian Heathcote, rector of West Deeping (Lincs), and had issue three daughters; died 29 January 1957; will proved 15 August 1957 (estate £41,259);

(3) Dorothy Margaret Baxendale (1888-1952), born 19 November 1888; married, 7 April 1920, Maj. Bertrand Elwell Hervey-Bathurst (1882-1942) of Gortinanane (Argylls) and later Dochfour (Inverness), fourth son of Sir Frederick Thomas Arthur Hervey-Bathurst, 4th bt., but had no issue; died 12 December 1952; will proved 28 January 1953 (estate £27,109).

He inherited Worplesdon Court from his parents in 1887 but sold it and bought Hursley Park (Hants) in 1888. He lived there until 1902, when he sold it to Sir George Cooper. He then bought Preshaw House (Hants) which his widow occupied until 1920, when it was sold to Frederick Raymond Pelly. His town house was 78 Brook St., London, which was leased, rent free, as the Red Cross Hospital for Facial Injuries after his death.

He died suddenly, 23 June 1915, and was buried at Worplesdon (Surrey); his will was proved 1 October 1915 (estate £280,009). His widow died 8 July 1925; her will was proved 25 September 1925 (estate £14,218).

Lloyd Baxendale (1822-82) 

Baxendale, Lloyd (1822-82). Second son of Joseph Baxendale (1785-1872) and his wife Mary, daughter of Richard Birley of Blackburn (Lancs), born 17 February and baptised at Eccles (Lancs), 7 May 1822. Managing partner of Pickfords the carrier. JP for Berkshire and Hertfordshire. He married, 6 May 1851 at St Mary, Lancaster, Ellen (1830-1910), elder daughter of Canon Joseph Turner, vicar of Lancaster, and had issue:

(1) Alice Baxendale (1852-97), born 1 April and baptised at Whetstone, 6 May 1852; married, 15 July 1875 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), Alfred Octavius Kirby (1843-1919), solicitor, of Coombe Nevill, Kingston (Surrey) (who m2, 19 October 1905 at Ascot (Berks), Beatrice Elizabeth (1868-1949), daughter of Henry William Schneider of Ulverston (Lancs)), son of George Goldsmith Kirby of Grove House, Hammersmith (Middx), and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 24 May 1897; will proved 9 September 1897 (effects £16,362);

(2) Constance Mary Baxendale (1853-1924), born 12 August and baptised at Lancaster, 29 September 1853; married, 6 March 1884 at Greenham (Berks), as his second wife, Lt-Col. Thomas Edward Bagge (1838-1908) of Gaywood Hall (Norfk), but had no issue; died 26 April 1924; her will was proved 22 October 1924 and 12 February 1925 (estate £25,006);

(3) Gertrude Ellen Baxendale (1855-60), baptised at Totteridge (Middx), 22 February 1855; died young, 15 April 1860 and was buried at Whetstone;

(4) Lloyd Harry Baxendale (1858-1937) (q.v.);

(5) Francis Hugh Baxendale (1862-1918) (q.v.).

He lived at Totteridge House (Herts) until he bought the Greenham Lodge estate (Berks) in 1873. He rebuilt Greenham Lodge to the designs of Norman Shaw in 1879-83. His town house was 58 Grosvenor St., London.

He died 8 November 1882; will proved 12 January 1883 (estate £411,535). His widow died 18 November 1910; her will was proved 20 December 1910 (estate £10,700).

Lloyd Harry Baxendale (1858-1937)

Baxendale, Lloyd Harry (1858-1937). Elder son of Lloyd Baxendale (1822-82) and his wife Ellen, elder daughter of Canon Joseph Turner, vicar of Lancaster, born 3 February 1858. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1876). JP for Berkshire. A director of Pickford & Co (chairman from 1909), and following its merger in 1912 with Carter Paterson & Co., chairman of the merged company. Chairman of Newbury Racecourse and Bath Racecourse. He married, 7 September 1895, Constance Louisa (1865-1944), daughter of Charles Raymond Pelly of Upton Lodge, Eastbourne (Sussex), and formerly wife of Richard Davies Matthey (1858-1929) (in whose divorce proceedings Lloyd Harry Baxendale had been cited as co-respondent). They had no issue, but adopted a daughter:

(A1) Christina Woolner (later Baxendale) (1906-94), daughter of Hugh Woolner of Winchmore Hill (Middx), stockbroker, born 27 November 1906; adopted 1907; inherited the bulk of her adopted father's estate; married, 5 January 1927, Lt-Col. Donald Cardross Flower Erskine (1899-1984), 7th Baron Erskine and later 16th Earl of Buchan, of Chilterns End, Henley-on-Thames (Oxon) and later of The Manor House, Bourton-on-the-Water (Glos), and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 15 February 1994; will proved 21 April 1994 (estate £791,499).

He inherited the Greenham Lodge from his father in 1882. The house was sold in 1938 by his executors to his nephew, Guy Vernon Baxendale; the manorial rights were sold to Newbury Borough Council.

He died 21 May 1937; his will was proved, 28 June 1937 (estate £309,042). His widow died 7 January 1944; her will was proved 11 May 1944 (estate £6,694).

Francis Hugh Baxendale (1862-1918) 

Baxendale, Francis Hugh (1862-1918). Younger son of Lloyd Baxendale (1822-82) and his wife Ellen, elder daughter of Canon Joseph Turner, vicar of Lancaster, born 2 July and baptised at Totteridge, 6 August 1862. A director of Pickford & Co., carriers. Educated at Eton and Jesus College, Cambridge (matriculated 1882). JP for Sussex. Churchwarden of Framfield, 1890-1918. He married, 9 July 1883, Emily Ann (1857-1942), daughter of Thomas Nicholls of Clapham (Surrey), sculptor, and had issue:

(1) Guy Vernon Baxendale (1884-1969) (q.v.);

(2) Vera Ellen Baxendale (1888-1975), born 26 April 1888; lived at the Manor House, Bosham (Sussex) and later at Pigeon's Farm, Greenham (Berks); married 1st, 8 February 1912 (div. 1925 on grounds of his adultery with Mabel Violet Norton), Cdr. Conyngham Charles Denison DSO RN (1885-1967), later 7th Baron Londesborough, elder son of Cdr. Hon. Conyngham Albert Denison RN, but had no issue; married 2nd, 17 December 1925, Air Vice-Marshal Cedric Ernest Victor Porter CBE (1894-1975), son of Joseph Francis Porter OBE of Helmsley (Yorks), and had issue one son; died 8 August 1975; will proved 28 January 1976 (estate £76,656);

(3) Basil Francis Baxendale (1890-1965), born 19 February 1890; started work as a clerk at Pickfords, c.1910; served in First World War as an officer in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (Lt-Cdr); awarded OBE, 1919; subsequently a theatre designer, working at Beccles (Suffk) and later at Ropley (Hants); married, 28 November 1925 at Chelsea Register Office (Middx), Amy Beatrice (1897-1974), an artist under the name 'Peter Baxendale', daughter of Edward Grasby, and had issue one daughter; died 11 September 1965; will proved 24 January 1966 (estate £34,202);

(4) Hugo Lloyd Baxendale (1899-1957), born 8 November 1899; educated at Eton; an officer in the Royal Navy (Sub-Lt.), who served in the First World War; lived at Chidmere House, Chidham (Sussex); JP and County Alderman for West Sussex; served in Second World War as Chairman of Chichester War Agricultural Committee and Superintendent of the Chichester Division Special Constabulary; married, 18 April 1929, Eleanor Sibyl Mitford (1902-68), County Councillor, only daughter of Francis Gibbon Oliver of Mountfield, Faversham (Kent), and had issue four sons (of whom one died in infancy); died 20 January 1957; will proved 4 April 1957 (estate £2,995).

He moved to Framfield Place (Sussex) as a tenant in 1887 and bought the freehold in 1890. He also had a town house at 2 Cadogan Gardens, London, which he bought from Lillie Langtry in 1897.

He died 23 July 1918; will proved 20 November 1918 (estate £90,955). His widow died 24 May 1942; her will was proved 15 August 1942 (estate £7,338).

Baxendale, Guy Vernon (1884-1969). Eldest son of Francis Hugh Baxendale (1862-1918) of Framfield Place and his wife Emily Ann, daughter of Thomas Nicholls of Clapham (Surrey), sculptor, born 27 December 1884 and baptised at St Jude, South Kensington (Middx), 7 February 1885. Educated at Eton and travelled in South America, 1907. An officer in the Royal Garrison Artillery (2nd Lt., 1906; Lt., 1908; Capt., 1914; ret. 1919), who served in the First World War (mentioned in despatches). A director of Pickfords from 1909 and of Carter Paterson & Co. and its subsidiaries from 1912. DL for Sussex (from 1946) and County Alderman for East Sussex; High Sheriff of Sussex, 1929-30. As a young man he was a keen amateur motorist, taking part in a number of races and rallies (and being fined for speeding on a number of occasions); later in life he took up sailing. He married, 28 February 1911, Enid Blanche (1887-1980), second daughter of Joseph Francis Porter OBE of Helmsley (Yorks), and had issue:

(1) Ann Baxendale (1913-97), born 10 May 1913; emigrated to Kenya with her husband; married, 15 November 1950 at St Columba's Church House Chapel, Pont St., London, as his second wife, John Robert McCready (1911-85), barrister-at-law and a judge of the Supreme Court of Nairobi (Kenya), elder son of Rev. David McCready, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 15 July 1997; will proved 22 January 1998;

(2) Joseph Alwyne Francis Baxendale (1915-40), born 7 November 1915; educated at Eton and Zurich; an officer in the Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry (2nd Lt., 1937; Lt.), who served in Second World War; married, 16 September 1939, Althea Dykes (1918-2007) (who m2, 12 February 1945, Capt. John Wynne Bankes (1916-2009), elder son of Robert Wynne Bankes CBE of Soughton Hall (Flints) and had issue two sons and one daughter), youngest daughter of Sir Albert Dykes Spicer, 2nd bt., but had no issue; died of wounds received in action during the retreat to Dunkirk, 2 June 1940, and was buried at Etaples Military Cemetery; administration of goods granted to his widow and father, 27 July 1942 (estate £1,885);

(3) (William Lloyd) John Baxendale (1919-82) (q.v.); 

(4) David Stephenson Baxendale (1922-44), born 10 November 1922; educated at Eton; an officer in the Coldstream Guards (2nd Lt., 1942); died unmarried when he was killed in action in France, 21 July 1944; administration of his goods granted to his father, 9 November 1944 (estate £2,633);

(5) Jane Baxendale (1927-2012), born 28 September 1927; married, 1971 at Framfield, David Eric Oakley (1918-2007); died without issue, 25 February 2012; will proved 8 August 2012.

He inherited Framfield Place from his father in 1918. In 1938 he purchased Greenham Lodge following the death of his uncle, and he intended to sell Framfield Place and move to Greenham Lodge, but when advertised in 1939 the Framfield estate failed to sell (apart from a secondary house called Arches Manor). Greenham Lodge was requisitioned by the Government soon afterwards, so he remained at Framfield until his death.

He died 30 July 1969; will proved 6 November 1969 (estate £39,613). His widow died aged 92 on 20 September 1980; her will was proved 6 November 1980 (estate £49,885).

Baxendale, Maj. (William Lloyd) John (1919-82). Second, but only surviving, son of Guy Vernon Baxendale (1884-1969) and his wife Enid Blanche, second daughter of John Francis Porter OBE of Helmsley (Yorks), born 15 June 1919. Educated at Eton and University College, Oxford. An officer in the Coldstream Guards (2nd Lt., 1940; Lt. 1942; Capt. 1944; Maj. 1947) who served with 6th Armoured Division of 1st Army, 1940-45. JP and DL for Sussex; High Sheriff of Sussex, 1963-64. He married, 9 July 1946, Lady Elizabeth Joan Fortescue (1926-2010), younger daughter of Rt. Hon. Hugh William Fortescue, 5th Earl Fortescue, KG, and had issue:

(1) David Hugh Baxendale (b. 1952), born 23 January and baptised at Framfield, 5 April 1952; stockbroker and later farmer near Biggar (Lanarks); married, 1977, Jacqueline Loveday (b. 1952), daughter of John William Hext of Trelaske (Cornwall), and had issue two sons;

(2) Peter Anthony Baxendale (b. 1955), born 4 December 1955; company director;

(3) Lucinda Margaret Baxendale (b. 1958), born 25 November 1958; married 1st, 17 September 1983 (div. 1986), Jonathan Edward Mccalmont Harington (b. 1955), property buying agent, son of Kenneth Douglas Evelyn Herbert Harington, but had no issue; married 2nd, 1992, Nicolas James Goland Crosthwaite (b. 1948), business consultant, son of Maj. Ivor Crosthwaite, and had issue one son and one daughter.

He inherited the Framfield Place estate from his father in 1969 and lived at Hailwell House on the estate. Framfield Place was sold and divided into six residences in 1977.

He died 15 February 1982. His wife died 17 January 2010.

Baxendale, Richard Birley (1823-78). Third son of Joseph Baxendale (1785-1872) and his wife Mary, daughter of Richard Birley of Blackburn (Lancs), born 10 October 1823. A sleeping partner in Pickford & Co, the management of which was in the hands of his elder brothers. A member of the Royal Yacht Club. He married 1st, 30 August 1853, Caroline Anne (1833-57), daughter of Maj. Duncan Darroch of Gourock (Renfrew), but had no surviving issue; married 2nd, 12 January 1860 at Bishops Tawton (Devon), Gertrude (1840-1909), daughter of Robert Chichester of Hall (Devon), and had issue:

(2.1) Gertrude Mary Baxendale (1863-1922), baptised at Wheathampstead (Herts), 30 September 1863; inherited Blackmore End on the death of her mother in 1909 but first rented it to Dundas Simpson and then during the First World War lent it as a hospital funded by family members and connections in the Federated Malay States, for which she was awarded the MBE; took the surname Vincent-Baxendale after her husband's death; married, 1883, as his second wife, Col. Arthur Hare Vincent (c.1841-1916) of East Grinstead (Sussex) and Summer Hill (Co. Clare), and had issue one son and four daughters; died at Hove (Sussex), 7 October 1922; administration of goods granted 30 January 1923 (estate £16,268). 

He purchased land at Kimpton (Herts) in 1865 and built Blackmore End by 1869. His town house was at 35 Portman Sq., London.

He died 1 June 1878 and was buried at Whetstone; will proved 19 July 1878 (effects under £350,000). His first wife died in childbirth and was buried at Whetstone, 6 June 1857. His widow died of a stroke, 27 September 1909, and was buried at Kimpton; her will was proved 20 November 1909 (estate £16,498).

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1965, pp. 50-52; VCH Berkshire, vol. 3, 1923, pp. 311-29; G.L. Turnbull, Traffic and transport: an economic history of Pickfords, 1979; P. Hale, Delightful and bracing: Blackmore End and Porter's End - the legacy of the Baxendales, 2004; G. Tyack, S. Bradley & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Berkshire, 2010, pp. 316-17; N. Antram & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Sussex - East, with Brighton and Hove, 2013, pp. 398-99.

Location of archives

Baxendale of Greenham: deeds, manorial records and estate papers, 16th cent-1913 [Berkshire Record Office, D/EBx]

Baxendale of Framfield Place: estate maps and sale particulars, c.1873-1910 [East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Record Office, Acc. 6625]

Coat of arms

Gules, two barrulets argent, in chief a fir tree eradicated proper between two trefoils slipped, and in base a like trefoil of the second.

Can you help?

• Can anyone identify the architect of Blackmore End for certain?
• I should be most grateful if anyone can provide photographs or portraits of people whose names appear in bold above, and who are not already illustrated.
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from descendants of the family who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 10 July 2021 and updated 30 August 2021 and 12-13 February 2022. I am grateful to Matthew Beckett for suggesting the possible identity of the architect of Blackmore End, to Francis Baxendale for additional information, corrections and the photograph of the Georgian house at Greenham Lodge; and to Thomas Baxendale for extensive additional information and corrections.